MINERÍA ARTESANAL Y EN PEQUEÑA ESCALA (MAPE) Y COVID-19: RESPUESTA A LA PANDEMIA

This report examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector, highlighting the challenges of government regulation, the economic hardships faced by miners, and the role of the informal sector as a social safety net.

• The artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector is vast and largely informal, with an estimated 40.5 million people directly participating in 2017 and over 120 million depending on it indirectly. Approximately 80% of the total workforce operates informally.
• Government support for ASM communities during the pandemic has been limited. More than half of the governments surveyed by the IGF could not provide specific pandemic-related support, and over 80% of ASM respondents in the Delve data collection initiative reported receiving no support, leading to a shortage of critical protective supplies like masks and disinfectants.
• COVID-19 restrictions severely disrupted ASM supply chains and reduced miner incomes. Travel restrictions hindered government oversight and prevented miners from selling production, creating a 'buyers' market' where gold prices at the mine dropped by up to 40% despite high global prices.
• The pandemic exacerbated existing gender inequalities within the ASM sector. Women's income and work were disproportionately affected, partly due to an increased burden of domestic work and childcare following school closures.
• Despite government limitations, the informal ASM sector acted as a critical social safety net, providing livelihoods for people affected by the pandemic in other sectors who lacked alternative employment or savings.
• Some successful local responses were recorded, including a community-funded COVID-19 ward for ASM workers in a local hospital in Zimbabwe.
• The pandemic is viewed as an opportunity to 'build back better' by using public-private cooperation to bridge resource gaps and foster trust between ASM actors and government institutions to facilitate formalization.

APA

Crawford, A., Lyster, O., & Rolfe, A. (2020). MINERÍA ARTESANAL Y EN PEQUEÑA ESCALA (MAPE) Y COVID-19: RESPUESTA A LA PANDEMIA. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-11/artisanal-small-scale-mining-covid-es.pdf

Chicago

Crawford, Alec, Olivia Lyster, and Adam Rolfe. MINERÍA ARTESANAL Y EN PEQUEÑA ESCALA (MAPE) Y COVID-19: RESPUESTA A LA PANDEMIA. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2020. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-11/artisanal-small-scale-mining-covid-es.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Crawford |first1=Alec |last2=Lyster |first2=Olivia |last3=Rolfe |first3=Adam |title=MINERÍA ARTESANAL Y EN PEQUEÑA ESCALA (MAPE) Y COVID-19: RESPUESTA A LA PANDEMIA |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=November 2020 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-11/artisanal-small-scale-mining-covid-es.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{crawford2020minera, author = {Crawford, Alec and Lyster, Olivia and Rolfe, Adam}, title = {{MINERÍA ARTESANAL Y EN PEQUEÑA ESCALA (MAPE) Y COVID-19: RESPUESTA A LA PANDEMIA}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2020}, month = nov, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2020-11/artisanal-small-scale-mining-covid-es.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }